Climate Adaptation

Recently I have been thinking about what people have in mind when they talk about adaptation in poor communities.  When people describe cases where poor farmers are living on the ecological margins, and are with climate change even worse off.  Adaptation measures must be implemented (which by the way will be the same as development measures!) – but STOP. Should we really help these people to stay in their marginal situation? Is adaptation about putting a plaster over bad situations? No! Adaptation is a process that helps people adjust to new environmental conditions with new risks.  The way that this process is supported is by addressing the factors that make people vulnerable to new and old hazards.

So, going to the most vulnerable community, for example subsistence farmers around the Sahel, and trying to help support their adaptation process by keeping them where they are, may instead encourage maladaptation. Maybe the best solution in this case would be to provide alternative employment or even help them relocate.

Don’t get me wrong, a process of adaptation will be possible for many communities.  But we need to keep in mind that there are limits – physical, geographical, ecological, social and cultural – to adaptation.

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